Not that many years ago I was enrolled in a coaching program that was heavily based on magical thinking and ‘manifesting miracles’.
(Britanica defines ‘magical thinking’ as ‘the belief that one’s ideas, thoughts, actions, words, or use of symbols can influence the course of events in the material world. Magical thinking presumes a causal link between one’s inner, personal experience and the external physical world.’)
My coach at the time instructed me to repeat affirmations each morning while feeling and believing that I was calling my chosen reality into manifestation. While this activity was fairly benign, it came with other instructions including ‘act as if’ which encouraged me to spend like I’d already made all the money. (This teaching saw friends of mine end the coaching program in tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt).
My reading list at the time included things like ‘A Course In Miracles’ and authors including Mike Dooley, Joe Dispenza and Napolean Hill. (Embarrassingly, I also recommended these texts to my own clients at the time.)
With more reading and exploration, and repeated experiences of these teachings simply not bearing fruit, I came to understand that ‘thoughts become things’ is not a Universal Principle and that glumping seemingly technical and scientific terms (quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry) together with religious sounding terminology (deserving of miracles, God wants you to be abundant, on my heart) is incredibly attractive but rarely efficacious.
But here’s the thing: in my pendulum realisation that what I’d been fed and was practicing was a pack of bullshit, I’d swung too far in the other direction, abandoning the useful and important influence of envisioning altogether.
While I am adamant simply ‘manifesting your reality’ is dangerous and misleading nonsense, getting your head right before you take action does make a difference. If you’re looking to make changes to your Yoga business in 2022, here’s my two-step process (hint: think THEN act!).
1. The Money Mindset of an Abundant Yoga Business Owner.
This is really where the rubber hits the road as far as moving from the struggling, striving Yoga teacher to the prosperous, influential teacher. (If you have a ‘woo-woo’ aversion bear with me. This is the FIRST part of the two-step.)
I was talking with a client recently, one of the women in my Keep Growing Mastermind, about how she had become accustomed to essentially under-earning. She is a very grateful, warm-hearted, powerful teacher and mentor. She earns much less than she did when she had a full time, corporate job. She has become accustomed to saying no to things, struggling to pay her bills, not saving for her own retirement, or investing in things like income protection insurance. Essentially, she is operating on the absolute minimum. These days, she does not experience life as financial struggle because she has been in it for so long. It’s become normal.
We were talking about what it would be like, and how would her life become more easeful and joyful, if there was more prosperity in her life. I made the point that so many people already in her community look to her as a leader, they look to her to help them through difficult times, they look to her for support in their own physical well-being, they look to her for guidance. So, imagine in looking to her in those ways, they also saw a woman who was financially self-sufficient in a way that was in alignment with her values?
I’m not suggesting she become a financial advisor to her students by any means. But there is something powerful seeing an authority figure model positive behaviour like right livelihood (ie making a living that does no harm to others, Artha with Dharma).
Unfortunately being ‘broke’ and being ‘spiritual’ have become conflated in many parts of Yogaland. While there are so many teachings to the contrary, this belief is widespread and held by many people in my community (including me, until I decided to intentionally work on it).
You know when Facebook sends you those memories from years ago? I was recently served a FB memory from 11 years ago of me graduating my first 200-hour teacher training. I remember having that photo taken. I look kind of awkward and tired but also pretty darn chuffed with myself. I was wearing the best dress I owned at the time. It was my best dress not because I liked it, not because it was particularly flattering, but because it was a brand, a label. And at that time in my life I couldn’t afford any ‘labels’.
When I saw the FB memory, it really took me back to a place where not only was I in considerable financial struggle, I was glorifying it. I was really getting off on how hard my life was and that I could never afford fancy things. I was so broke… I was so ‘spiritual’.
Now, let’s be clear: I understand I’m in a place of considerable privilege to be ABLE to choose to make more money.
Back then I was choosing to under-earn because it was feeding my ego. I was ‘better’ than people who had money. People with money were ‘bad’ and never as ‘spiritual’ as me. Blah.
After reading, researching and having my own coaching on this topic, I know now that there is nothing inherently good or bad about money. It’s how it’s used that makes all the difference. For me, having more money gives me a sense of security and safety that I value greatly. Knowing I’ll be OK should adversity hit is an amazingly fortunate place to be. Being able to financially support causes I believe in and people I love is incredibly motivating.
Getting your money mindset right is critical for achieving your Yoga biz goals in 2022.
As a Yoga practitioner/householder there is no requirement to underearn, struggle, undercharge or experience financial adversity. Moreover, it could be argued that if you have the capacity to generate prosperity in a way that fulfils the teaching of ‘right livelihood’, your giving could become part of your own practice, supporting people and causes that don’t have the ability or privilege you do.
Repeat after me: there is nothing more ‘spiritual’ about being broke.
Remember: Artha WITH Dharma.
2. Making the Transition from Struggle to Ease
Now that we’ve covered mindset, it’s time to discuss the part that is regularly left off any magical thinking approach to business: taking action. Making the transition from struggle to ease — from two people in a class to 18 people in a class — is about learning the essential business basics.
Unfortunately Yoga Teacher Trainings pump out enthusiastic Yoga practitioners believing they have everything they need to run a small business, and this is obviously not the case.
Why do we think that just because we get a certificate that says 200 or 300 hours, we suddenly know how to run a small business? Maybe we can all bumble along and keep rudimentary financial records and customer details. Perhaps we set up a special bank account for ‘Yoga money’. Run an ad in the paper. Create a FB business page.
But what about using paid social media advertising to let people know that you’re there? What about building your website or online studio? Setting up memberships, payment plans, terms and conditions? What about knowing how to have great contracts and agreements with people that you are going to partner with? These things are critical, and yet we do not get them in our teacher training. If you are trying to figure it all out by yourself, give yourself a break. If you do not quite know what to do, it’s probably because no-one has shown you yet.
I remember taking a class at the Bali Spirit Festival with a famous ‘Yogalebrity’ that I admired. She was teaching an amazing class complete with live DJ and was weaving her sequencing magic.
At one point she had us all in Trikonasana. As we were transitioning through to the other side she said, “If tripod headstand is in your practice, take that now,” or something to that effect. Suddenly 10 people of maybe 60 were in headstand! Back then I had never even SEEN a tripod headstand! I remember looking around the room thinking, “WTF? What the hell is going on here?”
It blew my mind that headstand transitions were even a thing!
These days, the occasional tripod headstand transition is part of my practice but at the time, it was mind blowing. No-one had ever actually taught me that before. The same is true for the business basics in your Yoga business. If you did not learn it, of course it can be overwhelming and ‘WTF’ for you. That is okay, you just have to get those skills down.
Now you know it’s possible, you can learn how to do it.
Learning how to run a small business doesn’t have to be an exhaustive process. You don’t need to go to university or buy an expensive training program. Start with the library. YouTube. Join a local business support group. Take small steps at a time and measure your results. Do more of what works and abandon what doesn’t. Don’t take your results personally.
Then the action that you (must) take will be informed and efficient. No more staring vacantly at the computer, doom-scrolling through your ‘competitors’ socials or wasting money on ‘experts’ or ‘consultants’.
Take the best action you know how to take.
In summary, how you think about prosperity and your business is critical but it’s not the only thing you need. You also need to know the action steps to take and then actually take them.
Envisioning your future gets you started. Taking smart action gets you results.
Get some free training to make a start with my 7-part video training here.